The Terms "Christian" and "Martyr" are Synonymous

The Terms “Christian” and “Martyr” are Synonymous*

In pursuit of the truth – www.cinopsbegone.com – Sunday,Jan. 16th, 2011

Preface: It is exciting to look forward to this public event that includes many young Christians! You will see thousands of them in San Francisco and a couple of hundred thousand in Washington, D.C. It is the MARCH FOR LIFE during this coming weekend of Jan. 22-24, 2011. You can view it on EWTN.

*Pope Benedict has a poignant account of Christians in his writings, Co-Workers of the Truth: “Acceptance of the name “Christian” is an acknowledgement of martyrdom, the expression of one’s readiness for martyrdom. When we call ourselves Christian, this meaning is always implied.

“We are told in the Acts of the Apostles (11:26) that it was at Antioch – it must have been about the year 44 A.D. – that the followers of Jesus were first called Christians. From certain linguistic characteristics we can conclude with relative certainty that it was Roman authorities who bestowed this name on the believers.

“It is a Latin formulation belonging to the linguistic category of Roman law. By it, the disciples of Jesus were designated as the coterie of Christ, as the party of Christ; it goes without saying that the authorities were well aware that this Christ had been put to death as a criminal.

“Hence Christians were known as followers of a criminal and consequently, since they concurred with his teaching, were themselves worthy of death, being, as it were, members of a criminal law. The name Christian thus became a term used in criminal law: whoever bore this name did not have to commit any further crime; he was already guilty. It is all the more remarkable, therefore, that the Christian themselves embraced this designation, which meant death for them.

“Its earliest use is in the First Epistle of Saint Peter, and it occurs with great frequency in the so-called Doctrine of the Twelve Apostles [Didache} and in the letters of Ignatius [of Antioch], two collections of texts that probably originated in the regions of Antioch in about the year 100.

“How can one explain the fact that Christians adopted precisely this designation, which put them directly in danger of death, and were even proud of it? But, in fact, this connection has persisted throughout all of history and is today even more true than ever before.

“We might recall, for instance, the martyrs who shed their blood for Christ in Mexico in the ‘20s and ‘30s or the martyrs of the Third Reich – Edith Stein, Maximilian Kolbe, to name just two of the many we might mention…”

George H. Kubeck,